Autopsies done on 7 Utah babies found in garage

Article by: MICHELLE L. PRICE

Associated Press

April 18, 2014 - 6:30 PM

PLEASANT GROVE, Utah — The Utah State Medical Examiner's Office has completed autopsies of seven infants found in cardboard boxes in a woman's garage, but it is unclear when the results will be released.

Pleasant Grove Police Capt. Mike Roberts said Friday the medical examiner will review the autopsy reports with police and prosecutors. He did not have any of the results and did not know whether his agency would get them before prosecutors file criminal charges against the woman accused of killing six of the babies.

Chief Medical Examiner Todd Grey said in an email that his office never discusses cases or releases autopsy results publicly, but he said other investigators might release them later.

Megan Huntsman, 39, was still being held Friday in the Utah County Jail in Provo on $6 million bail. She is scheduled to make an initial court appearance Monday.

Roberts said Huntsman had been placed on suicide watch at the jail. She did not have an attorney as of late Thursday, he said.

In addition to the autopsies, investigators have brought in the FBI to help Utah officials analyze DNA taken from the seven babies. None of the labs in Utah can analyze the type of DNA that has been taken from the tiny corpses, Roberts said.

Officials hope the DNA will reveal the sex of the babies and who their parents are, but it's unknown when the results will be back, Roberts said.

News of the completed autopsies was first reported by the Deseret News.

Huntsman's estranged husband discovered one of the babies' bodies in the garage of their Pleasant Grove home last weekend. Huntsman told police that she killed six infants after giving birth to them from 1996 to 2006, according to authorities. She put the bodies in plastic bags and packed them in boxes in her garage, investigators said.

Huntsman told police that a seventh baby was stillborn.

Roberts said officials still believe Huntsman's timeline of events is accurate.

Huntsman's estranged husband, Darren West, lived with her during the decade she said the births and deaths occurred, but he was in federal prison on drug charges from 2006 until January. West told police in his initial interview that he knew nothing about the pregnancies, but he has since obtained an attorney and investigators haven't spoken with him again, Roberts said. They are trying to determine his knowledge or involvement.

West previously declined to comment on the case through a family spokesman.

Investigators have an initial theory on Huntsman's motive but aren't discussing it publicly, Roberts said.